Robin (Damian Wayne)
Damian Wayne is the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul (though Bruce was unaware of his son's existence until he was on the cusp of his teenage years) and the fifth and current Robin. The character was created by Grant Morrison in issue #655 of Batman, for the story arc Batman & Son. There is ongoing fan dispute over whether or not he is the same child as Batman fathered in the 1987 story Batman: Son of the Demon. History His existence is unknown to Batman. Genetically perfected and grown in an artificial womb, Damian was intended to be a formidable warrior. He is raised by Talia and the League of Assassins. He becomes a talented martial artist by the time he is a pre-teen, at which time Talia reveals Damian's existence to his father and leaves him in Batman's custody in an effort to disrupt his work. Precocious, spoiled, and violent, Damian battles Robin (Tim Drake), whom he wants to replace as his father's sidekick, and sucker punches him off the T. rex of the batcave. Grounded by Batman, he escapes, dons a variant Robin costume made of Jason Todd's old tunic and assorted League of Assassin gear, and gets into a fight with and decapitates the villainous Spook. Although misguided and malicious, Damian seems to genuinely want to aid his father's war on crime. Eventually, Batman confronts Talia, but both Talia and Damian are soon caught in an explosion. They survive the explosion, but a badly injured Damian requires transplants of harvested organs, which his mother orders her physicians to carry out. He made a full recovery. Head of the Demon Talia takes Damian to the Australian Outback where he is tutored in the secret history of his grandfather, Ra's al Ghul. Talia is unaware that a former servant of Ra's, named White Ghost, plans to use Damian as a shell for the soul of Ra's to return to Earth. This process would, of course, kill Damian. Talia is able to save her son from his fate at the last minute. However, Ra's is still able to return, as a rotting, shambling undead corpse, still needing Damian to stabilize his form. Damian flees to alert Batman, but he's still pursued by his evil grandfather. Upon entering Wayne Manor, Damian attempts to relay to Robin the fact that Ra's has returned. However, Robin, suspicious of Damian's intentions, does not believe his story and begins a fist fight. Damian flees and encounters Alfred. Before he can effectively relay his news he is attacked by Robin, who perceives Damian's attempt to help a tripping Alfred as an attack, and renews their battle. As they fight, members of the League of Assassins approach the manor with the intention of killing all others within and bringing Damian back to Ra's alive. Damian and Tim fight side-by-side against Ra's and his minions. However, their collaboration is hindered by their very different philosophies of battle, not to mention their strong dislike - even hatred - of each other. Damian is willing to betray Tim at any moment for his own safety. Ra's captures the two and tells Batman that he will use one of them for his own body. Batman offers his own body instead. Ra's refuses the offer, feeling that he needs someone of a younger age. Batman offers a third alternative: "Fountain of Essence," which contains the qualities of a Lazarus Pit. Batman and Ra's go in search of the fountain, leaving Tim, Damian, Nightwing, Alfred, and Talia to battle the Sensei. Damian leaves his mother and Tim to an unknown fate, while he goes off to be with his father. Unfortunately, he ends up captured by Ra's and nearly loses his life. Batman and the others manage to save him, and Talia takes her son and escapes. Batman R.I.P. & Battle for the Cowl Soon after these events, Talia and Damien take up residence in one of the League of Assassin's many bases, where Talia continues to monitor Batman's activities, such as his relationship with a woman named Vesper Fairchild. Damien meanwhiles continue to train under the eye of the archer-villain Merlin. Both Damien and Talia become concern when they catch wind that a group known as the Black Glove is targeting Batman. The pair of them fly back to Gotham, where they save Commissioner Gordon from a booby-trapped Wayne Manor and ask to pool their resources. Damien meanwhile steals a Batmobile with Alfred in order to rush to Batman's side. Damien, uncaring of basically everyone, runs an ambulence off the road, unaware that he had taken out the Joker as a result. Alfred admonishes the boy, who threatens to kill him in response.Once they arrive at Arkham, they learn that Batman is again missing in action. Although Batman survived the events of R.I.P. he would later be killed by Darksied during the events of the Final Crisis. Damien apparently decides to stay in Gotham following his father's supposed death, and taking residence with Alfred and his adopted brothers Nightwing and Robin. While joy riding in the Batmobile one night, he is attacked by a group of villains. Oddly enough Damien's previously cruel and aggressive behavior is replaced with a more child-like and fearful persona (going so far as to call for his mother when attacked by Killer Croc and Poison Ivy). He is saved however by Nightwing, but unfortunately the pair of them end up being attacked by a new gun toting Batman revealed to be Jason Todd. While in persuit of Jason, Damien is shot point-blank in the chest, and rushed to the Batcave by Nightwing and the Birds of Prey. Despite his intensive injuries, Damian refused to be sidelined and almost attacks Alfred in order to go help Dick Grayson battle Jason Todd. Alfred however does not stop Damian, but instead encourages him to pull his own weight, even offering Damian the old Robin tunic that he once stole and asks that the Squire help Damian. Together the pair of the locate and rescue an injured Tim Drake from nearly being killed in the explosion. The New Boy Wonder Following a final confrontation with Jason Todd, Dick Grayson finally accepts the mantle of Batman. Unfortunately, much to Tim's shock, Dick does not continue to take him on as Robin. Stating that Tim is more his equal and ally than protege, Dick instead offers the mantel of Robin to Damian, who Dick feels needs proper training or they will run the risk of seeing him turn into a killer. Damian of course revels in the fact that he has usurped Tim's previous role, even going so far as to insult his predacessor with the suggestion that he take on the role of Batgirl. Feeling betrayed and infuriated, Tim punches Damian, leaves, and takes on the mantle previously worn by Jason Todd: Red Robin. During their first week as partners, Damian has proven himself much different Robin than Tim or Dick were, thought somewhat similar to Jason Todd. Argumentative and arrogant, Damian often argues and even undermines Dick's authority as Batman, going so far as to claiming that he might not be worthy of the Bat-mantel. After his first fight together with Dick, Damian gets upset with Grayson and goes looking for the villain Professor Pyg himself. The Professor captures him. Blackest Night After Bruce's skull was taken from his grave, Damian and Dick decide to bring the rest of his skeleton, along with those of Damian's grandparents, to the their base beneath Wayne Tower. Damian is quite shaken by the sight of the bones of his family. On the way to the cave, Dick's body is possessed by Deadman, whom Damian lashes out at in confusion. Deadman then possesses and leaves Damian's body, subsequently passing his knowledge of the attack of the Black Lanterns onto him. The three heroes then prepare for the Black Lantern's assault on Gotham.Blackest Night: Batman #1 (August 2009) Powers and Abilities Skilled Martial Artist: exceptional martial artist, trained by the League of Assassins. Strength level Damian possesses all the strength of a normal human male who engages in intense regular exercise Weaknesses Damian possesses all the weakness of a normal human male though has been trained to resist them for longer than most pre-adult human males Paraphernalia Equipment: Katana sword, grappling hooks, bass knuckles with spikes, Robin mask with assorted lenses for assorted situation. Transportation: None known. Weapons: Many in his training as an active assassin Notes Damian is suggested to be the New Earth counterpart of Ibn al Xu'ffasch who is actually the biological son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Head, the daughter of Ra's al Ghul of an alternate Earthes. According to statements in the recent encapsulated "Origin of Ra's ah Ghul" (Countdown 4 (week 48)) Damian is actually Bruce Wayne's biological son. However, no other source confirms this in the actual storyline and many of these compact origins in Countdown are told from the standing as a "general composite overview" of the characters they show, whereby they mix many elements of several differenct incarnations of the character. Thus this reference may not apply as actual reference of this specific incarnation of character. Wayne, Damian